Battles in the Sunset
by LeilaTheRainbowNinja
Summary: 'In the year above the famous Marauders, a small group of Hogwarts students stood; these students were some of the first to see the horrors of the new world, the new regime that Lord Voldemort was building. And they were some of the first to fight it.'
1. Of the beginning

**A/N:**This is my first attempt at a fanfiction; I RP a lot with the awesome LozzT-In-Time so this should, in theory, be a doddle. Seeing as our characters mix up a lot, I'm using my awesome characters and an idea Lozz gave me from _her_ characters. Please review and give me feedback on what I can do to make this better!

**Full Summary:** In the year above the famous Marauders, a small group of Hogwarts students stood; these students were some of the first to see the horrors of the new world, the new regime that Lord Voldemort was building. These students weren't, to many people's surprise, just Gryffindors, but also Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws and the odd Slytherin. These students would never be remembered after the First Wizarding War as their bravery and determination was not put to simple faces and names – no, these students were a beacon of anonymous hope for all those who were fighting against Voldemort and his followers. Let this story reveal the true people behind the discovery of the infamous Order of the Phoenix. Let this story live on forever.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Potterverse unfortunately, but I own all of the characters in here that you don't recognise from the Potter books.

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><p>'<em>The future depends on what we do in the present.' – <em>_**Mahatma Ghandi**_

**Chapter One**

**Of the beginning**

On the morning of the 1st September 1976, four girls dressed in rather conspicuous clothes entered Kings Cross station in London. These four girls each wore cropped jeans, brightly coloured shirts and crazilly patterned knitted cardigans. Each of them were pushing a large wheeled trolley upon which was a cage with an animal in each and a large wooden trunk. The four girls were talking in hushed tones, errupting into laughter every few minutes, causing the business men and women commuting to glance over at them in distaste.

These four girls were seventh-year Gryffindors at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and they also happened to be best friends. The tallest of the bunch, a girl with long flowing strawberry blonde hair, hazel eyes and a tanned complexion was called Marlene McKinnon. She was standing next to a considerably shorter female, this time with short light brown hair and twinkling dark eyes. She had a petite yet curvy figure called Alice Tearson. The to other girls were walking slightly behind the first, having stopped to secure the darker-headed one's trunk more securely as it had been in danger of falling off; one was called Dorcas Meadowes and she had shoulder length spiky black hair and blue eyes that always seemed mischevious. The last girl was of medium height, olive skin and brown eyes. The only thing that made her stand out from the others was her long, slightly curling red hair. Her name was Samantha Jackson, though she told everyone that she met to call her 'just Sam'.

As they approached their destination, the friends found a brick wall in their way. Leaning on it casually as if they were waiting for a train, they slipped through the seemingly solid obstacle and into a crowded and clouded station that seemed to be of a whole other world.

And if you wanted to look at it technically, the station _was_ of a whole other world; the Wizarding world to be exact. Every child, every parent along the platform was either a Witch or a Wizard, some of them fresh-faced from their holidays in the sun. But the four girls who had just entered the platform hadn't had any time to go to a tropical country to get a tan. Oh, no. They were under employment of Professor Albus Dumbledore, the current Headmaster of Hogwarts, and possibly the best Wizard in the world.

Sam, who had been looking around her everywhere to her sister, suddenly turned back towards her friends.

"I don't think she's here yet. We definately told her to get Nyxon and Aurora and meet us underneath the sign at twenty to eleven, didn't we?" she asked the group, frowning, checking to see if she was right.

"Definately," Alice answered in a soprano voice. "Maybe they're just fighting their way through all these people here; the way everyone's packed in here like sardines in a can makes it very hard to be on time for meetings, especially in the most packed place of the whole platform."

"True," Dorcas muttered, brushing raven hair from her face. "But then again, this is Charlie we're talking about. She's usually late."

They went quiet at the statement and settled for looking around them. Five minutes passed, ten minutes passed, fifteen minutes passed before Sam admitted that they should probably get onto the train or they would be left behind. Heaving their heavy trunks towards an open compartment door, the four of them managed to haul their belongings into the hold and retrieve their pets and hand luggage before a conductor slammed the door shut on the billowing steam from the scarlet steam engine that was called the Hogwarts Express. From their place in the corridor, the girls could hear the 'hoot-hoot' of the horn before the train began to crawl forwards along the track.

If trying to find three other people on the packed platform was hard, wading through the torrents of students in the hallway of the steam engine in an attempt to find an empty compartment was almost impossible. After pushing their way through what seemed like a neverending stream of Hogwarts students, Sam finally spotted a compartment with a single inhabitant. She indicated to the others to enter the compartment and she pulled open the glass door and entered herself. The person in there was not, as Sam had expected, a lonyle first-year, but instead a sixth year with hair as red as Sam's own. She recognised the girl as a Prefect from her own house and scrambled to remember her name... Lucy Something? No, that didn't sound right... Lulu? Lily? Lily, that was it! Lily... Lily... Lily Evans. Lily Evans was sitting alone in a compartment.

"Excuse me Lily," Sam said smoothly, smiling at her housemate. "But can we come and sit in here?"

Lily looked up from the Potions book that she was reading, taking in the four of them that had traipsed into her compartment.

"Sure, I was just going to find my friends anyway. You can have the compartment to yourselves." she told them; perhaps it was that she felt nervous sitting with them, the sixteen year-old amongst the older students, or perhaps she just wanted to catch up with her friends, but Lily Evans picked up her robes and traipsed out of there.

Marlene raised a single eyebrow. "That was convenient. Anyway, Sam, write to Charlie and get her in here." she told her readheaded friend, who immediately pulled out some parchment and a self-inking quill, scribbling a short message and tying it to the leg of a small Barn Owl; she proceeded to open the window and throw her owl out into the slipstream of the train, knowing that she would find her sister. In the meantime, however, they would have to talk among themselves.

"So," Dorcas began. "Is anybody actually looking forward to the lessons this year? I've heard that they'll be really hard now thath we're taking NEWTs..."

"So have I," Alice answered immediately, most at home with talking. "Professor McGonagall mentioned at the end of last term that she would be testing us on Full-Body Transfiguration when we got back. I had hoped that she was just teasing, by Prof McGee never teases. Ever." She finished dramatically, a pained look upon her face.

Marlene laughed at Alice's expression. "No she never jokes. Then again, Full-Body Transfiguration isn't too hard when you think about it; all it has to do with is focusing really hard on what you're trying to turn that person into."

"I'm glad you find it so easy," Sam grumbled good-naturedly. "The only lesson I understand is Charms. Flitwick is a squeaky genious."

They all laughed at that, but quickly sobered up when they saw a flash of red in the distance of the corridor.

"I think Charlie's here," Dorcas noted, leaning towards the door just as three figures in billowing black robes with yellow and black ties entered the compartment. One looked eerily like Sam, except that she had slightly prettier features and more auburn-looking hair whereas her sister's was a bright red; this was Charlotte Jackson, usually known as simply Charlie. The girl to her left was very tall, around five foot eleven, with soft hair the colour of daisies. She had a faraway look on her face that suggested that she hadn't been paying much attention to where she was going. She was known to the world as Aurora Periwinkle and her best friend, Nyxon Wyatt, who owned the most coveted hair in the school: long and lustrous, chestnut in colour, with hints of mahogany twisting lazily through the silky strands. Together the three seventh-year Hufflepuffs sat down on the nearest seats and smiled at their Gryffindor friends.

"Sorry we didn't meet you, Sam," Charlie began. "We got stopped by some stupid prank those boys from the year below pulled, the what-do-you-call-'ems... Those 'marauders'." She said the name with an eyeroll. "They're always getting into trouble."

"They decided to let off a load of wet-start fireworks in the middle of the platform, one hit Marcus Trollway, it wasn't very pretty," Nyxon added, wrinkling her nose at the memory.

"And we had a hard time pulling Aurora here away from her newest boyfriend," Charlie added, grinning evilly at her friend, who frowned back.

"Hey! It's not like you haven't had a boyfriend before!" she defended half-heartedly.

"But Rore, seriously, you'll get to see him again in an hour or so!" Charlie countered, laughing now, as the countryside passed their compartment through the light windows.

"Did you meet any Slytherins on the way up?" Sam asked the trio of Hufflepuffs; each of them shook their heads.

"Saw not one of them, though that's probably to be expected," Nyxon answered drily. "Especially after what happened at the end of last term..." They all paused in their conversation, remmebering six of the more dangerous Slytherins being caught trying to torture a second-year Ravenclaw in a fourth floor corridor. Each of them had been punished heavilly; the rest of the school had given them a wide berth after that. "They're probably sitting in their own little carriage plotting ways to get back at the rest of the school." Nyx added.

They all sighed at the thought. "I'd really rather Professor Dumbledore gave us the power to get rid of them _before_ they hurt anyone else; I heard that the girl they tried to torture has been transferred to the Salem Witches Institute for Magic in America." Alice put in, always first on the scene with gossip.

The seven of them lapsed into silence at that, all pondering what the Slytherins had done. As no more conversation was made for the next few minutes, each of them pulled out books, magazines and unfinished homework to complete while they waited for the train to finally slow and drop them off at Hogsmeade station.

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><p><strong>AN:** Not the best chapter, but still, it's a chapter. Review with any feedback!

~Leila XOXO


	2. Of noughts and crosses

**A/N:** I'd like to thank the awesome people who reviewed this story for my last chapter! That's some major big thanks to _LozzT-In-Time, zoesalvatore _and _CuteLikeMomiji_! Your reviews and encouragement and, to Lozz and Zoe, friendship that has sprung up from unexpected places, has inspired me to write this chapter! So I hereby dedicate chapter two to you three!

**Full Summary: **In the year above the famous Marauders, a small group of Hogwarts students stood; these students were some of the first to see the horrors of the new world, the new regime that Lord Voldemort was building. These students weren't, to many people's surprise, just Gryffindors, but also Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws and the odd Slytherin. These students would never be remembered after the First Wizarding War as their bravery and determination was not put to simple faces and names – no, these students were a beacon of anonymous hope for all those who were fighting against Voldemort and his followers. Let this story reveal the true people behind the discovery of the infamous Order of the Phoenix. Let this story live on forever. **NOTE! My character Elan Morris has a rather weird name; you might think that it is pronounced like the name 'Ellen', but it is actually pronounced like 'Eee-lan' with a stress on the 'ee' sound. Thanks!**

**Disclaimer:** There are some things in life that we would love to own but it just isn't to be: the Potterverse is one of them. This story is for entertainment purposes only! I own only my OCs!

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><p>'<em>The more difficulties one has to encounter, within and without, the more significant and the higher in inspiration his life will be.' –<em>_** Horace Bushnell  
><strong>_

**Chapter Two**

**Of noughts and crosses **_**and**_** of planned events**

By half past five that evening, the seven girls who were in compartment number thirty-seven were remarkably talkative. They were all done with drawing, bored with reading and all homework had been finished long ago. Currently, Alice was drawing every last detail of Aurora's new boyfriend out the witch while Sam, Charlie, Marlene and Nyxon chatted about the insanely hard Transfiguration homework that they had just completed while Dorcas read the charms book that they had been set by tiny Professor Flitwick. The compartment, packed though it was, was cosy and all the chatter that floated around them like lazy tendrils of cloud made them feel at home. That was shattered, however, when the door was opened and two students poked their heads into the compartment.

Carmen Morris and Elan Morris, two seventh-year Ravenclaws who often hung out with the girls, were identical twin sisters both asian with dark brown, almost black, hair that fell to their waists and slim figures. Carmen was the more girly sister, while Elan liked to be friends with the boys more than she liked to be friends with other girls; the way she looked at it, boys were less bitchy than girls, and if escaping the bitchiness meant not hanging around with other females, then she was fine with it.

"Hey there guys! Nice to see you all! Have nice summers?" Carmen asked warmly, bubbly, while Elan smiled politely and leaned against the doorframe, her naturally straight curtain of black hair falling over her shoulder like a dark waterfall. Carmen's naturally curly hair was a big contrast, falling elegantly down the side of her face and down her back.

"Carmen! Elan!" Charlie exclaimed, standing up and rushing forward to hug the two Ravenclaws. "It's been so long since we saw you guys."

"Our summers were great, you two," Sam told the twins, rolling her eyes yet smiling at her own sister's exhuberence. "How were yours?"

"Good enough," Elan responded after stepping deftly out of Charlie's hugging range. "Went to a rally about Muggleborn rights. It got ambushed by Death Eaters, of course, but all they did was take him off stage and take him down some alley somewhere. We think they Disapparated with him, because none of us could find any of them afterwards. We sent an Owl to Dumbledore as soon as we got to Eeylops but we fear that we were too late to save him." Her cool tone made it seem as though what she was speaking of was nothing more than a simple comment about the weather, but her worried eyes and shaking hands betrayed her true feelings.

Alice, who was melodramatic about everything, slapped a hand over her mouth, stiffling a gasp, as her eyes widened in shock. "Really? The _Daily Prophet_ posted an article about that rally, said it was stopped halfway through but it didn't say why."

Dorcas and Marlene were also very interested in what Elan had said about the rally.

"Wasn't it James Horwick who made that speech about those rights?" Dorcas asked the twins in a grim voice.

"Yup," Carmen answered, having finally been released from Charlie, who had took a step back when Elan had spoken about the desastrous speech-giver. "We watched his face just fall when they came to get him."

"But he must have known that it was coming," Marlene argued. "What sort of idiot gives a speech about Muggleborn rights in this day and age?"

"He wasn't an idiot," Nyxon said quietly, a calculating gleam in her eyes. "He was just standing up for a bunch of Witches and Wizards who aren't aloud to look after themselves right now. There's nothing idiotic about that."

"That's not the point," Marlene began angrilly, but Sam cut her friend off.

"Mar, now isn't the time for this argument." She said sharply, for the strawberry blonde showed all signs of wanting to carry on with her speech. "We can take it to Dumbledore, ask if he has any news about James Horwick, but we're on the school _train._ We can't afford to have someone overhear us talking about things like this. What if the next person to walk by this compartment was one of those Slytherins who tried to torture that poor girl last year?"

There was a silence in the compartment that seemed stiffled with fear, anger and apprehension. Every one of the girls were looking at another, worried that they had already said too much.

After a minute, Dorcas Aurora decided to break that silence. "You're right, Sam. This is our last year at Hogwarts so we shouldn't waste it; we should use these next nine months to learn as much as we can about defensive magic so that when we finally get out into the world we can make sure that we can keep ourselves, the people we love and innocent people safe against the Death Eaters."

Two or three of them nodded, Marlene muttered 'damn right', and Sam smiled at the Hufflepuff that her sister was so fond of.

When people looked at Aurora Periwinkle, all they saw was a soft Hufflepuff that was stupid, a silly blonde that had a new boyfriend every few months. But those who were close to her, like the girls in the compartment, like the others that they hung out with at the school, knew that she was strong, braver than most and also cleverer. Aurora was the dictionary definition of judged. And everyone loved her for it, but it would also be her downfall.

As the train sped ever on towards Hogsmeade station and towards their final year at the absolute saftely of Hogwarts castle, the girls realised something absolutely crucial: they had to act like adults, though they were children in an adults' world. It felt like playing dress-up, trying on clothes that were too big in an effort to change who you were, what you liked like to the outside world. They had to act like adults and face up to the things that they wanted to face least of all because to conquer your fear is to defeat the part of yourself that doubts who you are, and who doubts theirselves more than teenagers?

So as night fell over the countryside that sped past their windows, after the Hufflepuffs and the Ravenclaws had left the compartment to go and find some of their other friends from their own houses so as not to 'rouse suspicion' (as Carmen liked to put it), the four Gryffindor girls were left alone. Sam, Dorcas, Alice and Marlene just sat and looked at eachother, the importance of succeeding in the war that was errupting around their ears, around their worlds, fell over them. It was up to them; it was a war for their generation, and nobody could truly fight this like people their age.

At half past seven, the Hogwarts Express pulled into Hogsmeade station, letting fly a long, fat flume of steam that melted into the inky sky that was littered with thousands of tiny glittering stars that seemed to wink at the students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. When the four Gryffindors managed to fight, push and squirm their way through the gathering crowd and into a compartment pulled by what seemed to be invisible horses, they finally let free a breath that they hadn't realised they'd been holding. This was it; they were finally going back to the castle that had been their home for the last six years.

The journey in the trundling carriages up the drive of Hogwarts was enjoyable for the four seventeen year-olds; they amused themselves by gossiping about the students that had changed that they had seen when they had gotten off of the train.

"... And did you see Carlisle Morton? Hasn't he changed this year-"

"He's actually hot now!"

"I totally agree! Oh my Merlin!"

"You guys are pathetic for talking about this... But I must say that I agree with every word that you say."

"Yay! We've finally converted Marlene to our way of thinking."

"We should throw a party."

After this, there wasn't much to do but crane their necks out of the dirty little windows that were in the sides of their carriage in an attempt to catch a glimpse of Hogwarts on their way up the drive.

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><p>(<em>Of planned events<em>)

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><p>In another carriage some way up from these four Gryffindor girls sat four boys fromt eh same house that were quite famous within the walls of the castle. These four boys went by the names of James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew and they liked to call themselves the Marauders. They were famed for their pranks and astounding ability to cheer anyone up, no matter how sad or hurt they were. They were none too shabby in lessons either (apart from Peter, though nobody seemed to remember him all that much; he paled to insignificance compared to his much taller, much better looking and much cleverer friends), all of them quite able to achieve at least E's in their tests and homework.<p>

At the moment, the Marauders were plotting one of two things: their infamous Start of Year Prank. It happened every year on the first day back; most of the younger students attempted to copy the Marauders in their pranks, but none of them were quite as good as when done by the boys themselves. A long piece of parchment lay between the four of them, adorned with a large drawing of the Entrance Hall and the Great Hall including incredibly detailed annotations about _exactly_ where they had to sit in order to detonate the large bundle of fireworks that were to be placed in the very centre of the Hall. Remus Lupin, who was often considered the brainiest of the group, had written the incantation that would do the job so that his three friends would have no trouble whatsoever in starting up the prank, even Peter who was looking as worried as the plan was detailed. And confusing.

When the carriages bumped to a stop outside the large oak doors to the Entrance Hall of the castle, Sirius Black smuggled the parchment into James' hand and hid the bundle of fireworks beneath his robes as they walked nonchalantly into the Hall. Carefully, oh so carefully, he placed the fireworks underneath a loose tile in the floor as James, Remus and Peter distracted any watching Professors ("Oh dear, Professor, Peter seems to have knocked all the silverware off the table!" "Pettigrew, you stupid boy! Clean this up _now_!"). After a minute or two in which Sirius jiggled the tile back into place, the boys sat down in their aforementioned places and watched the Sorting unfold before them with a critical eye, waiting for the _exactly right_ moment when they would loose off the fireworks. Finally, then the moment came, Remus gave James a sharp jab in the ribs with his elbows, indicating that he was to perform the spell now. James whipped out his wand from his robe pocket, pointed it in the general direction of the loose tile, and muttered _"Expellimellius_!"

Immediately, a distant fizzing noise sounded from underneath their feet as the fuses caught fire from the incantation. The four boys allowed eachother a fleeting glance before counting down silently.

_Three, two, one-_

And all of a sudden, all hell broke loose.

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><p><strong>AN:** I love this chapter! Big thanks to _LozzT-In-Time_ for betareading this at short notice. If you see any grammatical errors, it's her fault!

~Leila XOXO


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